Search tips
Information retrieval can be a time-consuming process. Here are tips to make your search more efficient.
How do I find keywords?
Finding good keywords is one of the most important and difficult things to do when searching. Start from your search query and pick out keywords, words that summarize the entire search query. These are the words you should use when searching different databases.
Plan your search
Start planning your search. This means that you need to analyze and define your search query. Here are some examples of what you need to consider:
- Why are you searching for the information? Do you want a general overview of the topic, or in-depth?
- What type of material do you need? Books, journals, legal documents, or statistics ...?
- How extensive does the material need to be?
- Is the timeliness of the information a requirement?
- Which language do you want the material to be written in?
When searching in databases, you can often apply filters that delimit your hits, for example by language or publication date.
Medical subject headings
In the subject area of medicine and health, it is usually best to search using subject headings. The words in the subject headings are controlled, meaning that the word is used to describe a particular term. When you are searching with subject headings, you must use the word in the subject heading for the specific database you are using. MeSH terms are used as controlled vocabulary in the PubMed database, but you can always use them to serach for keywords in other databases.
- Swedish MeSH
External link.
With the help of Swedish MeSH you can find good keywords to use when searching in databases. - SveMed+
External link.
You can also use SveMed+ to find MeSH terms. If you do a search, you will see suggestions for MeSH terms in the right-hand column. - Dictionaries
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Use dictionaries to find terms that you can use when searching the databases. - KIB – Termer för upplevelser och bemötande
External link.
On the Karolinska Institutet University Library's website you will find a compilation of useful terms about experiences and treatment.
Tips
Have you found a good article? Look in the database and see which keywords describe that article. Then you can try using those words in your search.
Swedish MeSH
Swedish MeSH is a controlled vocabulary thesaurus that you can use when searching for scientific material in various databases. Swedish MeSH can also be used as a dictionary when you want to translate your keywords from Swedish to English or vice versa.
What is a thesaurus?
A thesaurus can be described as a dictionary of medical terms. In many databases you can use thesaurus, but they can also be called MeSH or Subject Headings. A thesaurus is a list of controlled keywords, which means that specific terms have been selected to describe a particular term. These terms are arranged in a hierarchical structure, where broad terms are high up in the hierarchy, and narrow terms are far down. This can help you when you need to broaden your search to get more hits. When you use controlled keywords you usually get more relevant hits.
What is Swedish MeSH?
The abbreviation MeSH stands for Medical Subject Headings, and is a medical subject heading produced by the National Library of Medicine in the United States. The Swedish translation, Swedish MeSH, is translated by the Karolinska Institutet's University Library. Therefore, sometimes translations of Swedish terms, which have no American equivalent, can sometimes be missing. Keep in mind that Swedish MeSH is not a Swedish-English dictionary in the ordinary sense, the translation from Swedish to English only shows which terms you should use when searching different databases.
- Swedish MeSH
External link.
In Swedish MeSH you will find medical subject headings, both in Swedish and English.
Example from Swedish MeSH:
If you want to find a topic that describes "critical life-changing events," you could use one of these terms:
- Life experiences
- Life experience
- Event, life change
- Events, life change
In Swedish MeSH you can see that it is the subject term "Life Change Events" that you should use. Under "synonyms" you can also see that the term captures all of the above terms with one single term.
MeSH in other databases
MeSH is primarily used in the PubMed database, but you can also use MeSH terms when you start your search in other databases. Often the same subject headings are used, although there are a different thesaurus, but remember that you can get inferior search results if the terms do not match. Thesaurus for other databases can be found directly in the database, and then there is no Swedish translation.
Search example:
Children for disabled parents could be sought with the word combination:
child AND parents AND disabilities, but then you do not know if it is the children or parents who are disabled. If you search in Swedish MeSH for the concept of disabled parents, you will find the following term: Child of impaired parents. In CINAHL's thesaurus the term "Children of impaired parents" is used to describe this instead.
Where do I search?
It depends on the type of material you want to find. Different search tools cover different subjects and contain different types of materials.
The Library Search Tool
The Library Search Tool is a great starting point for finding books, e-books, journal articles, and more, all in one place.
Books and e-books
In the Library Search Tool, you can use filters if you would like to search only for books and e-books. Select "All filters", then "Source Types", and choose "Books" and "eBooks". Finally, select "Apply".
Articles
In the Library Search Tool, you can use filters if you would like to search only for articles. Select "All filters", then "Source Types", and choose "Academic Journals". Finally, select "Apply". When using the Library Search Tool, you search across multiple databases and journals simultaneously. This can result in a large number of search results. In such cases, consider using a subject-specific database, where you can refine your search with specific terms.
- The Library Search Tool
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Search for books, e-books and articles via the Medical E-Library's search tool.
Databases
A database is a collection of materials that have been made searchable. It can cover a wide range of subjects or be subject-specific, focusing on materials within a specific discipline.
Some databases contain full-text materials, while others provide only references. Additionally, databases may include factual data such as statistics, standards, and patents. It’s essential to understand the type of material available in a specific database.
In a database, you often have more search options than in the Library Search Tool. For instance, you can narrow your search by age group or geographic area. Exploring the database’s help section can provide detailed information on how to optimize your search.
- Databases
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The Medical E-Library's range of databases.
If you search with Google you will miss out on a lot of scientific material. Therefore, it is often better to use the library search systems and databases. You can also use the service Google Scholar to find scientific material. All the material in Google Scholar is not scientific, and the selection criteria are unclear. It is therefore important to critically examine the sources.
- Google Scholar
External link.
Google search service for scientific publications.
How do I search?
When you search in a database or with the Library Search Tool, you can control your search by using different search techniques. You can also narrow your search in different ways.
Common search techniques
There are several different search techniques that you can use to control how the database interprets your search query. Keep in mind that not all search techniques work everywhere. To be sure what works in a particular database, look in the help section of the database.
Phrase search
If the words you use when searching should be in a certain order, you can add quotation marks ("...") around them, for example, around "World War II". Then the database searches for the words as a collective term, exactly in the order you wrote them. If you search without quotation marks, the database can search for each word separately. Then you will likely get many hits that are about World War II, but not specifically World War II.
Truncation
Words can have different endings, like "nurse" or "nurses". To find all variations when searching, add an asterisk (*) after the word. This is called truncation. For example: school* finds words like "school", "schools" and "schoolchildren". Without truncation, you'll only find the exact word.
Boolean search
To combine several different keywords, you can use the Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT.
- AND is used when you want all the words you are searching for to be in the same article. It therefore limits the number of hits. For example, if you search for television AND movies, you will find documents where both television and movies are included somewhere in the text.
- OR is used when you want one or the other word to be included in the hits. It increases the number of hits. You can, for example, use OR when you want to search for several different synonyms or spelling variations. If you search for television OR movies, the hits will contain either the word television, movies or both.
- NOT is used when you want to limit the number of hits by excluding a word. A search on television NOT movies returns hits that contain the word television, but removes all hits that contain the word movies. When you search with NOT, however, you can miss interesting hits that contain both the word television and movies.
If you use more than one operator, you need to add parentheses to show the database how to interpret the search. Example: (children OR kids) AND television. The matches then contain either the words children, kids or both, together with the word television.
Controlled subject words
Some databases have Subject Headings with controlled vocabulary that you can use when searching. These words are carefully chosen to describe specific concepts. When using these words, you need to find them in the database's Subject heading and select the one you want, or else your search will be based on regular text. Check the database's help section for detailed instructions on using these controlled vocabulary. Remember that the terms in these lists may differ between databases.
Field search
Field Search is an advanced feature that helps narrow your search results. In databases, publications include details like author, title, publication year, keywords, etcetera. When using Field Search you can search for a specific author, title, journal title, and more.
Chain search
You can discover new sources for your work by examining the reference lists of different publications. This process is known as manual search or chain search. Additionally, in citation databases like Scopus and Web of Science, you can explore who has cited a particular source.
Narrow your search
In most databases, you can narrow your search by applying filters such as publication date, language, or source type. This can reduce the number of hits and help you find more relevant material. Another useful limitation is searching for "Peer reviewed" or "Peer reviewed journals", which ensures scientifically reviewed content – but always verify its accuracy.
Adjusting your search
Remember that information retrieval is a process where experimentation is key. You might need to switch databases, modify keywords, or combine them differently to achieve better results.
Too few hits
If your search yields too few or inaccurate results, consider changing your keywords. Using more general terms can broaden your search. You can also try truncating keywords with an asterisk (*) or combining synonyms using OR to capture different variations. And always double-check your spelling.
Too many hits
If your search yields too many results, consider using more specific keywords to narrow it down. You can also add keywords using AND, apply filters to narrow your search, or use the NOT operator to exclude certain hits.
Document your search
A scientific approach requires transparency and reproducibility. This means that everything you investigate must be structured clearly, so that someone else can repeat or validate your investigation. When writing an essay, report, or other assignment, it's common to document how you obtained the information. Therefore, you should document your entire search process. Many databases have a function called "Search History", where you can view and save your searches and filters. In addition to documenting your search results, you should note:
- The date and time of your search
- Which databases and search services you used
- The number of hits in each database
- The keywords and search techniques you employed
- Any filters applied, such as peer-reviewed, language, or year
- The criteria used to select items
Want to learn more?
- Education
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You can find open courses and films on our training pages.
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